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DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER

Anonymous
2014-07-10T02:34:53+00:00

Upon restarting an old PC, I noticed that it wasn't performing normally. When I start up the Compaq Presario SR1000V, it displays the normal start up screen, then jumps to a black screen with a small white line blinking at the top left. It'll stay there for about 2 minutes, then display the message "DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER".

*NOTE*- I do not own the boot CD or disk or whatever. This is due to the fact that the machine is from so long ago, I have no clue where it could have ever been.

Please put all responses in the SIMPLEST WAY HUMANLY POSSIBLE. I've been looking for an answer for a while now and every possible answer was more tech-y and confusing as the last. Please help!

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Performance and system failures

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-07-10T04:38:46+00:00

    go into the Bios and insure the boot order is set to harddrive first.

    QUOTE     F1 takes you into the BIOS.    UNQUOTE

    above from here

    ===========

    you should also change the cmos battery as it is probably dead if pc has been off for a long time.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-07-12T09:08:36+00:00

    I recieve a message saying "Cannot open volume for direct access."

    Funny that I get exactly the same message if I disconnect my hard drive, boot to Hiren's and then run chkdsk on C:

    Repeating:

    Can BIOS even "see" the hard drive? This should be the first troubleshooting step.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-07-12T03:06:58+00:00

    Thank you so much for the quick response! I used all of your steps and got as far as the last. When I enter in chkdsk c: /r   , I recieve a message saying "Cannot open volume for direct access." And as you expected, the Error-Checking didn't work as it displayed the message "Windows was unable to complete the disk check." Also, the drive "C" isn't present, but "B" or "RamDrive" is. Is that what I should call the command instead? As in: chkdsk b: /r? I await your response.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-07-11T22:16:33+00:00

    "The hard drive may have failed"

    Can BIOS even "see" the hard drive? This should be the first troubleshooting step.

    If not then it could be drive failure or it could just be a bad data or power cable connection, or maybe a bad jumper setting if its an old IDE/ATA drive. Whatever, if the drive is not visible to BIOS you can try as much as you want with Hiren's or any other bootable media and you will get nowhere.

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  5. Anonymous
    2014-07-11T20:05:02+00:00

    I tried it as soon as you recommended that, thank you for the reply! Sadly, however, that didn't change the usual sequences from happening on start-up. Is there something I should change after it boots from the Hard Drive? Because it lists spots for what should boot next, then afterwards. But, when I checked first it was: CD-ROM to Hard Drive to Hard Drive, then I replaced the first one to Hard Drive like you suggested to no avail. I look forward to your response.

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